It was late summer in Quincy's Gap and the Flab Five have been invited to be judges at the beauty contest of sows at a neighboring town's Hog Fest. They also end up judging the Brisket contest and the pie eating contest. It is several days at the festival eating fair food, and trying to figure out who killed the obnoxious BBQ contestant as well as who is selling drugs. At the same time, back in Quincy Gap, Scot and Francis are trying to figure out what the teens who are hanging out on Friday nights are doing in the library.

We learn more about Gillian in this story after she is taken in for questioning since she had an altercation with Jimmy the day before he was found dead. Since Lucy is now a deputy, her help was welcomed by Sheriff Jade Jones, but she wanted the rest to stay out of the situation. Bennett develops a crush on the Sheriff, which shows us another side to him. He is also studying to become a contestant on Jeopardy. He has a lot of trivia in his brain. James and Lucy's relationship was still a little strained after their breakup, but they still functioned well together as mystery-solving friends. James is drifting from Murphy since she seemed to have changed as well as keeping secrets from him. It was nice to see Scott and Francis solving their own mystery and what they do outside the library. Jackson and Mila are continuing to become closer in this story and James hopes that it progresses.

Between the police and the Flab Five, they figured out what was going on, but just like the police, they have to have enough evidence to arrest and prosecute. The ending of the story was tense and James has to make some quick decisions. I enjoy the fact that even though the friends are flawed and do not always agree with one another, they are true friends, loyal and always work together to solve the mystery. I would love to meet this group of friends and get the opportunity to solve a mystery with them. ( )

The members of the "Flab Five" are invited to a neighboring town to be judges in a pig beauty pageant and of course, soon end up embroiled in murder, as well as barbecue and complicated personal relationships!

James Henry is still torn between his feelings for Lucy and his relationship with local reporter Murphy.

The only down side of this book was it wasn't as tied to James' library as some of the others and I missed him spending time with the library employees.

I do enjoy this series and will keep reading it as long as J.B. Stanley keeps writing them! ( )